June 30, 2007

In all of the excitement of the Thomas Kinkade stamp line release Friday, I almost forgot that I meant to post a Christmas card or two every week. This cute little guy is an Impression-Obsession stamp, but it won't be released until July 23, with the Impression-Obsession fall and winter line. He has some equally adorable siblings, so if you love little fuzzy creatures, you should be watching for these!

I stamped him in Versafine black ink, then watercolored him with watercolor crayons and a waterbrush. I matted the image with Handsome Hunter card stock and edged that layer with a gold Painty pen. Without the gold, the values of the hunter green and the deep red are close enough that they would not stand out very well. That little gold line adds a visual layer between the two similar values. The background is an Impression Obsession Swirl background stamped in Real Red craft ink and embossed with clear embossing powder. I finished it with a bit of Stickles on the star and on the snow, some gold mini brads, and a length of gold cord.

I have to tell you that I'm not generally a mouse fan; I had one run up my pants leg one summer while I was driving! (I had been to get corn at a produce stand, and he was evidently in the bag of corn.) Anyway, this little mouse was so cute that I wanted him in spite of my mouse-a-phobia! I am really enjoying making Christmas cards before November for a change!

June 29, 2007

The winner of an entire set of the Cornish Heritage FarmsThomas Kinkade release is Jane Wike--lucky lady! I am sharing three of my samples here, but you will want to go to the CHF gallery to see so many more, ranging from time-consuming to quick and easy cards and projects. These are stamps that it's hard to go wrong with, even if you choose not to color the image at all (as in my second sample below). Many of you are looking for guy-card stamps; there are some fabulous guy-card stamps in this series! (By the way, the inside of the card above says, "there would be a shortage of fishing poles.")

Today I wanted to share a timestream "my-point-of-view" on this new release. First, when Lisa called me several months ago, she wasn't permitted to reveal the name of the artist, just that good coloring skills would be helpful. Then she told me several of the other people whom she had called with the same "I could tell you, but I'd have to kill you" proposal. Hey, I wanted to be a spy when I was growing up, so this was right up my alley! Besides Lisa Strahl as fearless team leader of the Thomas Kinkade Rubber Stamp Design Team, others who said "yes" were Anna Wight, Asela Hopkins, Ellen Hutson, Keri Sereika, Linda Bullard, Sharon Harnist, and Valerie Stangle.

After we agreed and signed non-disclosure forms, we eventually received the first image. It was definitely a work in progress: Richard and Liz had spent hundreds of hours trying to translate the incredibly detailed Thomas Kinkade images into good rubber stamp images. I stamped it. I lifted the stamp and looked at the image. Is it okay to admit now that I shook my head and thought, "I'm not sure that this will ever work. . ." Of course I didn't SAY that out loud! But I silently wondered how a painting that was so detailed and so dependent upon color and light to communicate could ever be captured on a small piece of rubber and made to work monochromatically.

Fast forward a few weeks and several more hundreds (literally) of hours of work at CHF: Liz sent us a second test image. I didn't stamp it the day I got it--I was that nervous! A couple of days later I remembered that it was on my desk and hesitantly pulled it out. This time I didn't even use my brayer to ink it; I just took an ink pad and gave the rubber a few halfhearted taps. I pressed, then lifted the rubber. . . And I honestly gasped in delight! The image was so lovely that I didn't even take time to think about researching "proper" colors. I just grabbed my Prismacolors--they were closest-- and went to town with them!

This whole process has been something of an education for me. I have learned that even when you start with amazing artwork, translating it into a stamp-able image is no small feat. I have also learned much from the other artists on the design team. Whew! Watching how each of them puts her own signature style on such strong images has been a real pleasure. I consider myself very blessed to have been able to take part in this adventure. (Thanks, Richard, Liz, and Lisa!) And I hope that this release makes you as happy as it has those of us who have been playing with the images already!

June 28, 2007

Woohoo! I still don't have my demo copy, but I do have some boxed SU catalogs now! Good thing I already have my midnight post ready, or you might not have seen one! I have only glanced through it since we were sitting down to dinner when it came, but I am quite sure that I will have no trouble finding plenty to like. Now where's my wish list. . .

If you are wondering, there's still no new SU catalog here yet, but there's always tomorrow. . .

I do have some other news items, however. In fact, I am just about to burst with excitement over several things that will happen within the next month! One of them is close enough to mention tonight. Cornish Heritage Farms is releasing a new line of stamps on Friday. You may have heard the buzz already, but if you haven't, take time to check out Lisa Strahl's post, or go enter the CHF contest for a chance to win the entire set of the new-release stamps, a $275 value. (Yes, they are that impressive!)

June 27, 2007

Tonight I tried something new--yes, I'm experimenting on you! But I'll get to that later. First, several of you have written me to say that you bought some Copic markers, but you aren't sure how to blend them. As a preface, I am not a Copic expert. I have never even watched an expert use them. (Nor have I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express.) But I have certainly loved the ones that I have and enjoyed playing with them! There are many factors that set these markers apart from water-based markers. To name a few:

They are solvent-based, meaning that you can use them on many surfaces that you cannot use water-based markers on. Think glass, acetate--anything that you could use a Sharpie on.

They blend beautifully and seamlessly with practice. (Try getting a smooth gradation with three different shades of a water-based marker!)

Because you can get replacement tips and ink refills, they are really a lifetime marker.

They come in 322 colors. . . Ahhhh. . . (Pinching myself to wake up!) Seriously, I will never own or even be able to convince myself that I "need" 322 colors, but I like options as much as anyone!

If you have an Original or a Sketch marker, you can get a nifty-keen little air can and airbrush set-up that enable you to use these markers as an airbrush. Maybe you'll never want that, but again, options. . .

Did you see what Trudee Sauer did on her blog post yesterday with the white grosgrain ribbon? Incredibly clever and non-messy! I adore elegant solutions--thanks, Trudee!

When I said that I was experimenting, I just received this stamp today, and I just tried my Copic Airbrush kit for the first time tonight. If I were doing it again, I think I'd go a bit lighter on the airbrushing . By the time I cut the circle out, I didn't have any white space left to show a gradation. Starting from nearer the beginning though, I was already coloring this image when it occurred to me that I should be taking pictures as I went. Keep in mind that you can click on any of these pictures for a larger version if you cannot see what I am talking about.

Picture 1: I had already used a YG00 and YG03 marker to color the dish. I usually start with the lighter color, then quickly switch to the next darker color for my shadow areas, then come back in immediately with the lighter marker on top to blend the two together, trying to get rid of a linear look. I was starting on the strawberries, using R20 (lt. pink), R29 (Lipstick Red), and R59 for shadow areas (Cardinal). Notice the pink blotches on the upper right of the berries; those will be my highlights.

Picture 2: Look at the top right berry: see where there was a hard line between pink and red? I got rid of that by blending over the red with the pink marker. (You can also use the colorless blender.) It helps to work quickly, wet ink into wet ink.

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Picture 3: I'm progressing on the strawberries, one at a time.

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Picture 4: The berries are finished, and I'm ready for the tops. I used YG03 and YG 95 for the tops (not pictured).

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Picture 5: Here comes the really experimental part: I got a wonderful box from Ellen today, a veritable treasure trove! One of the cool things it had was Eclipse Art Masking tape, a 6" wide roll of masking paper with a low tack so that it would not harm the card stock surface. I stamped my strawberry image on the Eclipse paper and carefully cut around the stamped image. It took a few minutes, but I can save this mask and reuse it.

Picture 6: After masking the strawberries and bowl, I used a pale blue marker to airbrush around the outside of the bowl, and I added some shadow areas in the lower left with a pale gray marker. The airbrush kit was very simple to use; I read the directions, assembled what I needed to, and had it working within five minutes. (Let's don't tell Rick that I can understand technical directions if properly motivated. ) I can see some cool possibilities for this airbrush system, but those ideas will have to wait until I have more time to play!

Stamp: Strawberries on outside (Lockhart), I Like you Berry Much on inside (A Muse)Papers: Memory Box Christmas Brights Collection, Stamper's Select White by PaperTreyInk: Versafine Black (I do not recommend Staz-On black with these markers since it is also solvent-based and can bleed when you use the Copic markers with it. I prefer the PaperTrey white card stock to my Whisper White when I use Versafine ink since Versafine black tends to smear on Whisper White, even if you dry it with a heat tool. If you have only Whisper White, you might try Palette Noir ink instead of Versafine.)Accessories: Copic Markers in the colors listed above, as well as B000 and W2, paper piercing tool, red grosgrain, and red eyelets (SU), Sakura Black Gelly Roll pen to dot the black seeds.

Finally, many have asked which color package I have for Copics. I do not have any of the current color packages. I have 48 colors that Ellen suggested after trying most of the colors, many but not all of which are comparable to the SU card stock colors that I already have. If I were you, I'd keep watching Ellen's blog for an exciting announcement about her color selections. She was hinting about it in this post. ;-D

Have a great day! (Here's hoping for a new SU catalog to come today. . .)

June 26, 2007

I am still (not so patiently) awaiting my new SU catalog. And UPS has rescheduled my boxes of bulk catalogs. . . That's okay: I still have many cool stamps to play with! How about this GinaK stamp, Seafood Surprise? (Also available at All That Scraps.)

I stamped the bucket-crab on kraft card stock in black Versafine ink, hit it with my heat gun (see note on patience in the first paragraph), and laid down a quick underlayer of orange, red, and cool gray with my Copic markers. I used Prismacolor pencils to add white highlights, sand, and a hint of sky. I added some yellow Stickles on the sand, and I faux-stitched around the crab. (Emily Giovanni recently did a great tutorial on faux stitching if you still have questions about it. Also, Sharon Harnist did one for SCS a while back, linked here.)

I used two Cuttlebug A-2 Embossing folders for the background. As I looked at the swirls folder, it occurred to me that the swirls looked a bit like waves, so I embossed them on Soft Sky card stock and trimmed around them to make them wave-y. The "wild about you" sentiment is from SU's Wild About You set. Black grosgrain and mini brad are also SU products. I really like this little crabby guy!

June 25, 2007

This was a fun little project! I've been playing with some treats from Ellen, one of them being this little Ranger Memory Glass frame that she has in some of her class kits. This Lockhart geranium stamp, available for purchase here, is one of my favorites; and I colored the image with my Copic markers--another favorite! Why do I like the Copics? Look at the flower pot: can you get a gradation like that with regular markers? These are so blendable! Edited to add:Several people have asked for a tutorial on using the Copic markers. It's on the list. My problem is that I don't like to babble about things that I am just learning. . . I am planning to be at CHA in Chicago in late July, and I hope to stop by the Copic booth, among others, to see the experts in action. So you may get Kindergarten Copic in the near future, but I'm hoping to be able to post at least some Middle School Copic when I come back! Thanks for your patience.

June 24, 2007

I told you that I'd get back to Pick a Petal eventually! I'm also going to try to answer some questions that you asked regarding sewing on cards. First, an excellent tutorial on sewing on cards is Julia Stainton's. There are probably more good ones out there that I haven't seen since I am on dial-up and somewhat limited in online access due to that. If you know of a great sewing resource, feel free to leave a link in the comments section so that others can find it as well. Also, check out Cambria Turnbow's blog; since Cami got her Janome Sew Mini, she's been on fire with card-sewing!

One question that I thought I could easily answer was how to hide the thread ends and avoid backstitching to lock the ends. My mom, who is an excellent seamstress (as opposed to me) taught me this trick many years ago. Since backstitching would generally show on a card, don't do it. Instead you simply sew your seam (1), then turn the card over so that the back is up (2). You will have one thread on the back and one on the front. Give the thread on the back a little tug, and a loop should appear from the front (3). Pull at that little loop to pull the front thread through to the back of the card stock (4). Now that you have both threads on the back, tie them together (5) and adhere them to the back. They won't come through, and you won't have backstitching or loose threads. How simple is that?

Several of you asked questions on sewing machine tension for paper versus thread. Tension settings are different for different machines, so I can't really help you there. If you have extra loops on the back of your card stock, your tension could be messed up. Other possibilities might be that your machine is not threaded right or that your bobbin is not quite in place. I sew on card stock more than I do on cloth, so I don't usually fiddle with the tension. Someone asked about needle size. I use a fairly small needle just because it's a bit less work for the sewing machine to punch holes through the card stock that way. I try to avoid more than two layers, however. These are not hard and fast rules--just some little things that have worked for me.

June 23, 2007

I came downstairs to make a card about four hours ago, but then I stopped in to check the SCS forums to make sure that I hadn't missed anything huge in the past few days. I had. Somebody got a new catalog in the mail! So instead of making a card, I've been devouring the new catalog threads. We stampers can certainly be a single-minded bunch of people at times, can't we?

After devouring the new catalog threads and seeing what made it from this past year's mini catalogs, of course I had to sort my stamps, current from retiring. (Am I imagining things, or is this beginning to sound like, If you Give a Mouse a Cookie?)

Would you like to see the numbers and pictures, now that I've finally sorted and counted my retiring stamps and my still-current ones? I have 57 sets left, as well as 17 backgrounds. (Yes, I have a backgrounds fixation.) But here's the big news: I have 53 sets retiring, as well as 3 backgrounds. (In all fairness, several are SAB sets or hostess sets--sets that we know will retire after one year.) I have another 15 sets that retired previously, that I thought I just had to hang onto, but that I haven't used in a year. . . That's a lot of stuff, isn't it? The good news is that my shelves (pictured on the right) which were crowded now have all kinds of space for new stamps!

Someone asked in the tips and/or questions thread what I do with my retiring stamp sets. If I love them, I keep them. If I don't have a good replacement for them, I keep them. Other than that, I part with them because my house would be overrun with STUFF otherwise. My customers get first pick, and whatever is left usually gets traded or sold on SCS. Occasionally I resort to e-Bay, but I must admit that I buy more on e-Bay than I have ever sold. (Hi, Cindy and Lindsay!)

Is there a point to all of this retirement-rambling? Well, I'd love to tell you that I have considered my ways and that I will acquire fewer things this year, but it might not happen. I am as eager as the next person to see that new catalog and make that prioritized list. You know the one I mean--the one with "Things I need on my first order" all the way down to "Things I might like, but not now."

June 22, 2007

(See post below this one for Big Blooms winner. Thanks!) Are some of you working on your Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, or other end-of-the-year cards yet? I really need to get started earlier than I usually do, so I have decided to try to get at least a couple done each week. I'll try to post one on Fridays if possible. Tonight you get two!

First, I had to try Baroque Motifs as a Christmas card. Card stock: Very Vanilla, Always Artichoke, and the new Purely Pomegranate (which is similar to Rose Red, but a bit darker, almost a cranberry color--lovely!) Ink colors were Always Artichoke and Purely Pomegranate as well. I added a bit of spice with my trusty Gold Painty pen as well as a couple of dots of clear Stickles and some gold brads. I also used my SU ticket corner punch and a small Carl corner rounder. The gold metallic ribbon is some that SU offered in the past--pulled it out of "the Stash." This would be a relatively simple card to mass produce if I left off the one hand-trimmed bloom. The Merry Christmas is from another new set, available July 1, Holidays and Wishes.

For the second card, I used one of my Lockhart angels (Star Angel 6011) and my COPIC markers. I have had pretty good results with both Palette Noir and Versafine Onyx Black inks used with Copics; the one exception is that the Versafine still seems to smear occasionally if I use my SU Whisper White. I have used other ultrasmooth whites without a problem, so I have an idea that it's the coating on the Whisper White that prevents it from drying completely enough to prevent smearing. (Of course it's that same coating that gives it such a lovely finish for solid stamping as well!) I have also used a black chalk ink with good results. Markers used were: Y19, YR31, Y00, B000, B21, E21, C1 (10% cool gray), and 0 (clear). I used the Copics rather than other markers because they blend so easily. For example, on the angel's dress, I used the pale blue (B000) around the perimeter, then quickly went back with my clear marker and was able to blend the edges and leave it lighter in the middle--much like you would use a watercolor pencil and blender pen. I outlined my image in a light cool gray just to add some depth. Stars are dotted with a Sakura Stardust Gelly Roll.

A few of you asked questions about Copic markers, and one of you said that you'd bought them and needed to know how to use them. I'm quite sure that I am not an expert with these yet, having only a few weeks' experience, but I will try to give you a few tips as I learn anyway. I have been e-mailed about these asking which assortment I liked best as well, and I have to admit that I don't have any of the regular assortment sets; I have certain colors (48) that give me a good range of color, some comparable to my SU colors, and some not comparable, but still necessary in a good color range. Whose advice did I take on marker colors? Ellen Hutson's, of course! Ellen has never steered me wrong in a recommendation yet, and this was a good one as well. You can read more about Ellen's Copic color choices in her post here. (I will tell you more about them as I use them for different projects.)

Finally, on to the angel's background: I used SU's new Soft Sky card stock, along with a Blue Bayou mat layer. Organdy is non-SU pale aqua. I used my Big Impressions Paisley texture plate to emboss the background. Several of you have asked in the past how to get a good impression with the texture plates, both Big Impressions and Fiskars. You will not get as deep an impression with a texture plate as you will with the A-2 Cuttlebug dies simply because they are one-sided and not cut as deeply as the Cuttlebug dies. In the past I have resorted to misting my card stock with water and adding extra fun foam to try to get a good impression from a texture plate. Tonight I used my newest die-cutting/embossing machine: a Spellbinder's Wizard (another Ellen-recommendation.) Wow. . . I did not have to mist my card stock or fiddle with adding extra layers. It just plain worked the first time! I will probably stick to using the Wizard for my texture plates from now on.

Wow! You stampers are a wonderful source of information! I am going to have to take some time to compile information that you gave. I thought that it might be interesting to see what your top ten favorite tools were. I am also working on implementing some of your great ideas, such as adding categories for colored pencil, watercoloring, markers, and specific techniques. It will not happen instantly, but I am working on it.

With no further ado, the new Big Blooms owner is Diane/cookiestamper, who loves Stickles, hates loose glitter, and uses little white pom-poms in an alligator clip when she needs something smaller than a sponge dauber! Diane, e-mail me your address, please. Thank you all for playing. Some of you I have answered already if the answers were pretty quick ones. Others I need to think over a bit or address in blog posts since several people asked the same types of questions. I will try to consistently answer on my blog over the next few weeks.

June 20, 2007

CONTEST ENDED! I am working on the post that gives details. Thanks! I have been stamping like a mad-woman lately, but I can't share much of it just yet. It occurred to me that this might be a good time for a reader-treat. One of my favorite sets in the current SU mini catalog has been Big Blooms, even though it was not even on my stampin' radar when I first looked through the catalog. I have a new set that I would like to share with someone who will give it a good home--attention, love--you understand!

To enter, here's what I would truly appreciate it if you would do: in the comment field, either tell me one of your favorite, indispensable stamping tools or tips, OR ask a question about a product or technique that I have used and that you are unfamiliar with and would like to know more about. As I have time, I will try to answer (on my blog) questions that seem to arise repeatedly OR I will learn something from you. Either way, it's a win-win scenario!

I will use the random number generator to choose the new Big Blooms owner on Friday evening, June 20, right before midnight. I really appreciate your reading my blog, and I appreciate your encouraging feedback as well--thank you, and good luck!

My Art Journal Blog

FTC Disclosure Statement

In the spirit of full disclosure, I currently work as a freelance designer in some capacity for the following companies: Imagination International, Inc. (Copic Markers), My Favorite Things Stamps, and Power Poppy Stamps. While I am compensated by these companies, either monetarily or in product, I maintain the freedom as an independent designer to say what I truly think of the products that I use. I will not recommend something that I don't personally use and enjoy.